It had been years since I had set a foot on the island of Bali for the last time but recently I was there again. And what can I say...it was very much different as I remembered and that also was a bit what I had expected. So in that case there were no surprises but wow, this island has changed a LOT!
What I remembered from last time I was visiting is that the Bali coffee was totally something else than the coffee that you would usually get in Europe. Not better, not worse just very different.
And that has everything to do with the way of preparing the coffee mixture where with Bali coffee you just mix the already grinded coffee beans with hot water and let the sediment drop to the bottom of the cup.
With drinking the coffee, you don't drink the sediment!!
Admitting, the Bali coffee is gooood and it has a rich taste. But after a while you want some different types of coffee as well and that is when the hunt for a different type of coffee bar started where there was also some option for some outdoor chilling time.
Kurasu
That is when I found Kurasa coffee (no website) in the Pejeng region around Ubud. Now Ubud already on itself is a place that has changed a lot and has started to become a concrete jungle but the Pejeng region is way more calm to chill if you ask me.
Kurasu is one of those outdoor places that is quite young and it is also attached to one of the newer hotels over there which is ridiculously overpriced so no reason to stay over there. But you can also just walk in like I did for a bit for a coffee and some bites.
The place is lush and green and overlooking some rice fields so that means your favorite hipsters and influencers will also take a step into there. And that brings....I don't know, something weird.
You will have these young local girls that will go all dressed up and have a coffee and just literally take selfies the whole time that they are there. I mean, when if the amount of selfies enough? And most of all, what are you going to do with all of those selfies?
Another situation that was really worth following with popcorn was a date between a total womanizer dude and a girl in yoga pants who was looking totally in love and was just screaming to get laid.
I mean, you can just see what is going on over there being the spectator in the corner and looking right through it.
Ow yeah, did I mention already that apart from the people over there that the scenery was just stunning??
On to the actual coffee!!
But where to start on the coffee. I thought that this magical place also called for a magical coffee so I went for something that was called like 'Matterhorn' or 'Avalanche' or something like that (I truly don't remember anymore).
This was something else. The cream was creamy and more like sweet whipped cream and there was cinnamon on top and orange zest and a pinch of salt. And the salt and the orange...WOW, that was something else and this tasted fan-tas-tic.
Small disclaimer in there, this was a cold coffee with ice chunks in there and that made it super refreshing. And since it had so many flavor in there, I wasn't in a rush at all to leave the place and chug down the coffee.
So I took it easy and just had a relaxing moment there to chill and really enjoy the coffee and the scenery.
And since it was so chill over there, I also decided to even stick around for a bit to eat. This 'dry duck ramen' was also really so damn delicious.
The word 'dry' in there says it all. All the ingredients and condiments that you would see in normal ramen were there, but there was no broth and this was a dry noodle.
But again, fantastic! Even though coffee and noodles wouldn't be the first combination to think about.
So a trendy coffee place with fantastic scenery and you mandatory batch of influencers to look at and see what they are doing.
I call this a proper coffee bar to hang out in! Kurasu, I call it approved!!